[mbtigger]

I was debating about whether to chime in on this thread. But here are my
unessential thoughts.For the record I am not a vegetarian - although
several folks I know are

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Robertson [mailto:the_oil_fish at yahoo.ca] 

I must bite...
 
I may be as dumb as a stump, and a prairie boy to boot, but isn't the
natural human state one of omnivorous gluttony? (I feel more akin to the
badger than the rabbit.) There are after all many of God's creatures
(kind and gentle as they are) for whom I am just another menu item.  
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Yes, I kind of feel the same way, in the sense that humans are
omnivores. .  We have the biological characteristics of omnivores
(Forward eyes, Canine teeth, etc). I don't feel that killing animals for
Meat and Hides is immoral Per Se, but I do question our modern methods
of meat producation sometimes.

 
Bruce (again)
So how is it unethical - in some folks' eyes - for us to eat them? Would
I be a more moral person if I went out and shot, skinned, gutted and
dressed the beasts myself? 
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Maybe! Here is where my funny sense of morality/ethics comes into play.
Sometimes I feel it is worse, in a sense, to treat the animals cruelly
while they live, than to kill them and eat their meat. When I was in
graduate school at Purdue University, the Agriculture school had it own
cow herds on the edge of campus. You could see them wandering over the
fields - not held in large pens. I even had cause to visit the
slaughterhouse while I was doing some of my graduate school work (There
are some nice oxidant enzymes in Cow liver). I found the place amazingly
clean and well run - I asked a LOT of questions, and it seemed like the
people there did all they could to make the animals death as quick and
pain free as possible. The Ag school sold the meat - Frozen with no
preservatives. I bought my meat there and felt as close as I could feel
to being a responsible carnivore.
 
Today at the supermarket I bough eggs which were labelled as "Naturally
Nested" - from chickens who are not caged. I don't mind paying a little
extra for items like that. I just wish more places would practice meat
production on small scale using good practices, and that these would be
sold in local supermarkets and labeled. 
 
No need to say it- I know my point of view is always a little out of
kilter, but there it is
 
Michael
 
 

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